Similar Path Yet Two New Tracks
#98 35 Raceway Park, Frankfort, OH (new 1/5-mile dirt), 10/15/05...
On Saturday I headed back to the Buckeye State and through Columbus again, but this time to the 35 Raceway. Located about an hour southwest of Columbus bordering the small towns of Frankfort and Roxabel (I noticed only one "l" on the sign yet two on the maps), the track is the second coming of 35 Raceway. I was told by the gate man that the Boettcher Family sold the land where the former 35 Raceway was and built the new track about three miles from the old location. and this was the sixth or seventh event for the new raceway. You can tell there is a strong opposition to the track with signs protesting the track and the announcer made a comment that the locals put lawnmowers beside their nose meters.
Notice the garage in the background
The track itself is a 1/5-mile slightly-banked dirt oval, and other than a choppy spot between turns three and four the track was smooth and racy without any dust. Car counts were 22 four-cylinder stocks, 20 600cc mini sprints, 14 pro dwarf cars, 12 sportsman dwarf cars, and 7 modified stocks.
The announcer, who sounded like NASCAR’s Buddy Baker, gave out very little information and the track owner handled the brief victory lane interviews. Racing began about 10 minutes after the scheduled 6:30 p.m. starting time and ended about 10 minutes before 11 p.m. A 45-minute intermission was taken to give kids rides in the race cars and kids foot races for candy on the frontstretch.
If you’ve never seen the mini sprints race, they put on a quite a show as they really fly. They are between the micro sprints and the midget cars running with wings using motorcycle 600 cc engines. They were running between 10 and 11-second laps. Kurt Jeffries of Westerville, Ohio led all 20 laps of the feature making it three wins a row in his #59 over Dan Lewis.
The mod lites/dwarf cars were spilt into two divisions a pro and sportsman division with the only difference apparently coming under the hood. The pro division was won by John Evans, who put on the race of the night. After getting crashed out of his heat race, the Washington Court House, Ohio racer charged from the 14th starting spot and made a last lap pass for the win. The 20-lap victory was Evans’ fourth of the season as he celebrated his 58th birthday.
Despite just 12 cars, the sportsman class 20-lap feature was slowed six times by caution. Jimmy Moss came from fifth, took the lead on lap eight, and raced on to his second win. Just one caution slowed the modified stock feature, which I believe were souped-up four-cylinder cars with late model-type bodies. Ernie Arndt made it three in a row in his #65 after taking charge on lap four.
The four-cylinders completed the racing program and while it was probably the best race of the night it was ruined and overshadowed by six cautions before finally being checkered with 15 laps completed. John Paul, Sr., who won the B main, came from the 13th starting spot and just made what turned out to be the winning move before the final caution ended the event five laps pre-maturely. One surprising item about the class was they were allowed racing tires, which I don’t believe I have seen on this division.
35 Raceway made for my 21st Ohio track tying me unofficially for 26th. They end their season this Saturday with another five-division program plus an enduro with racing starting at 4 p.m.
#99 Winchester Speedway, Winchester, IN (1/2-mile asphalt), 10/16/05...
After staying at the intersection of Route 35 and I-71 Saturday night and breakfast at Waffle House (love those!), I crossed back over the Ohio border into Indiana for the second straight Sunday. This time it was north to Winchester for my much-anticipated first visit.
While there is strong opposition to 35 Raceway, the opposite is true in the city of Winchester, Indiana as banners line the light poles of the streets in downtown welcoming race fans to the speedway. The track is located 10 miles from the Ohio border west of Winchester on Route 32. Winchester is one of those tracks as soon as you enter you can feel the history and nostalgia. One thing that did catch me off guard is Winchester is located in one of the counties of Indiana that do not observe daylight savings time meaning they are one hour behind EST this time of the year despite not being in CST. I do hear that may be changing.
While 35 Raceway's motto is the "Midwest's fastest 1/5-mile," Winchester’s is the world’s fastest ½-mile. Having seen the asphalt track throughout the years on television it always seemed scary fast. After taking in the races the speeds are truly breathtaking. After not operating in 2004, Winchester reopened under a new promotional team and had experienced success throughout the year with their four previous events.
After losing the first scheduled USAC National Sprint Car event to weather back on June 12, the series returned to end the track’s season for the “Rich Vogler Classic”. A huge crowd jammed-packed the big grandstands along with 18 USAC Sprints, 35 American Series (E) Modifieds, and 17 open sportsman cars, which was a “run what ya brung” type class with late models, street stocks, and trucks. I never expected the turnout of people as they announced for people to move in as they were running out of room.
Qualifying for the three divisions got started about 20 minutes late from the scheduled noon start time, but the heats started right at the scheduled 2 p.m. start time. USAC ran three 6-car 8-lap heat races that were all but meaningless unless they award points. The top 16 modified qualifiers were locked in. The fastest 10 ran a 10-lap dash that was inverted with the finish determining thefirst 10 starting spots of the the feature. Drivers that timed 17-35 ran a 20-lap last chance race that set the remaining positions. I did like the format. The sportsman class ran two 8-lap heat races.
Dave Darland topped the 30-lap USAC main even. The Lincoln, Indiana veteran racer passed pole-sitter Levi Jones on lap three for second, while Ron Gregory set the pace out front. Gregory opened up a big lead, but Darland and Dave Steele chopped into it every lap making it a three-car race for the lead on lap 15. Darland’s winning move came on the 18th circuit when he ducked under Gregory for the lead. It took Steele until the 27th circuit before he finally made the pass for second in lapped traffic. By that time, Darland was long gone and collected the $4,000 win in a race that went non-stop in 7:33.59 less than five seconds off the track record set by Steve Butler on June 16, 1990. Darland mentioned in victory lane how it was great to come back to the speedway and how the non-stop event took the wind out of him as he was literally holding on.
Floridian Steele was second over an impressive run by Gregory in third. Point leader Jones dropped to fourth over USAC National Midget point leader and Californian Josh Wise, who drives for NASCAR’s Tony Stewart. Tracy Hines, who set fast time with a lap of 14.045 just missing the track record .019 set by Steele on July 5, 2002, surprisingly failed to advance any positions finishing sixth.
It was dissappointing that only 18 cars turned out, but it was a good show nonetheless. It's amazing how many non-winged cars there are in Indiana yet many of these USAC National events don't draw that many cars. They had 22 last Wednesday night at the dirt track at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
The 40 lapper for the e-mods went to Mike Stacy, who led all 40 laps. Stacy’s win was far from easy as he had Jason Dietsch and Rodney Scott all over him in the closing five laps. The event was slowed only two times by caution; however, one of the stoppages was a nine-car melee in turns one and two that delayed action for 35 minutes. The only drawback to the show was only two wreckers and thus why such a long delay. That really is unexcusable for such a major event.
The open sportsman completed the show with their 40-lap main and it was Scott Henshaw in victory lane in a race that had just nine cars finish.
Winchester is one of those places you need to see for yourself at some point in your lifetime. Winchester made for my 11th new track of the year after only having one through August 11, and my 99th career track. It also marked Indiana track #5 for me all of which have come in less than the last year.
One note from the trip was how gas prices varied throughout Ohio. I saw it for as low as $2.33 regular unleaded near Celina, OH and as high as $2.89 where I stayed Saturday night and prices just about everywhere in between.
89. 1/2 Mountain Speedway, Saint Johns, PA
90. 8/12 Big Diamond Raceway, Minersville, PA
91. 8/13 Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton,PA
92. 8/13 New Egypt Speedway, New Egypt, NJ
93. 8/24 Westmoreland Fairgrounds (Rolling Rock Arena), Norvelt, PA
94. 9/9 Lake Erie Speedway (figure 8), North East, PA
95. 9/11 Thunder Moutain Speedway, Knox Dale, PA
96. 10/8 Columbus Motor Speedway, Obetz, OH
97. 10/9 Lawrenceburg Speedway, Lawrenceburg, IN
98. 10/15 35 Raceway Park (new 1/5-mile), Frankfort, OH
99. 10/16 Winchester Speedway, Winchester, IN
On Saturday I headed back to the Buckeye State and through Columbus again, but this time to the 35 Raceway. Located about an hour southwest of Columbus bordering the small towns of Frankfort and Roxabel (I noticed only one "l" on the sign yet two on the maps), the track is the second coming of 35 Raceway. I was told by the gate man that the Boettcher Family sold the land where the former 35 Raceway was and built the new track about three miles from the old location. and this was the sixth or seventh event for the new raceway. You can tell there is a strong opposition to the track with signs protesting the track and the announcer made a comment that the locals put lawnmowers beside their nose meters.
Notice the garage in the background
The track itself is a 1/5-mile slightly-banked dirt oval, and other than a choppy spot between turns three and four the track was smooth and racy without any dust. Car counts were 22 four-cylinder stocks, 20 600cc mini sprints, 14 pro dwarf cars, 12 sportsman dwarf cars, and 7 modified stocks.
The announcer, who sounded like NASCAR’s Buddy Baker, gave out very little information and the track owner handled the brief victory lane interviews. Racing began about 10 minutes after the scheduled 6:30 p.m. starting time and ended about 10 minutes before 11 p.m. A 45-minute intermission was taken to give kids rides in the race cars and kids foot races for candy on the frontstretch.
If you’ve never seen the mini sprints race, they put on a quite a show as they really fly. They are between the micro sprints and the midget cars running with wings using motorcycle 600 cc engines. They were running between 10 and 11-second laps. Kurt Jeffries of Westerville, Ohio led all 20 laps of the feature making it three wins a row in his #59 over Dan Lewis.
The mod lites/dwarf cars were spilt into two divisions a pro and sportsman division with the only difference apparently coming under the hood. The pro division was won by John Evans, who put on the race of the night. After getting crashed out of his heat race, the Washington Court House, Ohio racer charged from the 14th starting spot and made a last lap pass for the win. The 20-lap victory was Evans’ fourth of the season as he celebrated his 58th birthday.
Despite just 12 cars, the sportsman class 20-lap feature was slowed six times by caution. Jimmy Moss came from fifth, took the lead on lap eight, and raced on to his second win. Just one caution slowed the modified stock feature, which I believe were souped-up four-cylinder cars with late model-type bodies. Ernie Arndt made it three in a row in his #65 after taking charge on lap four.
The four-cylinders completed the racing program and while it was probably the best race of the night it was ruined and overshadowed by six cautions before finally being checkered with 15 laps completed. John Paul, Sr., who won the B main, came from the 13th starting spot and just made what turned out to be the winning move before the final caution ended the event five laps pre-maturely. One surprising item about the class was they were allowed racing tires, which I don’t believe I have seen on this division.
35 Raceway made for my 21st Ohio track tying me unofficially for 26th. They end their season this Saturday with another five-division program plus an enduro with racing starting at 4 p.m.
#99 Winchester Speedway, Winchester, IN (1/2-mile asphalt), 10/16/05...
After staying at the intersection of Route 35 and I-71 Saturday night and breakfast at Waffle House (love those!), I crossed back over the Ohio border into Indiana for the second straight Sunday. This time it was north to Winchester for my much-anticipated first visit.
While there is strong opposition to 35 Raceway, the opposite is true in the city of Winchester, Indiana as banners line the light poles of the streets in downtown welcoming race fans to the speedway. The track is located 10 miles from the Ohio border west of Winchester on Route 32. Winchester is one of those tracks as soon as you enter you can feel the history and nostalgia. One thing that did catch me off guard is Winchester is located in one of the counties of Indiana that do not observe daylight savings time meaning they are one hour behind EST this time of the year despite not being in CST. I do hear that may be changing.
While 35 Raceway's motto is the "Midwest's fastest 1/5-mile," Winchester’s is the world’s fastest ½-mile. Having seen the asphalt track throughout the years on television it always seemed scary fast. After taking in the races the speeds are truly breathtaking. After not operating in 2004, Winchester reopened under a new promotional team and had experienced success throughout the year with their four previous events.
After losing the first scheduled USAC National Sprint Car event to weather back on June 12, the series returned to end the track’s season for the “Rich Vogler Classic”. A huge crowd jammed-packed the big grandstands along with 18 USAC Sprints, 35 American Series (E) Modifieds, and 17 open sportsman cars, which was a “run what ya brung” type class with late models, street stocks, and trucks. I never expected the turnout of people as they announced for people to move in as they were running out of room.
Qualifying for the three divisions got started about 20 minutes late from the scheduled noon start time, but the heats started right at the scheduled 2 p.m. start time. USAC ran three 6-car 8-lap heat races that were all but meaningless unless they award points. The top 16 modified qualifiers were locked in. The fastest 10 ran a 10-lap dash that was inverted with the finish determining thefirst 10 starting spots of the the feature. Drivers that timed 17-35 ran a 20-lap last chance race that set the remaining positions. I did like the format. The sportsman class ran two 8-lap heat races.
Dave Darland topped the 30-lap USAC main even. The Lincoln, Indiana veteran racer passed pole-sitter Levi Jones on lap three for second, while Ron Gregory set the pace out front. Gregory opened up a big lead, but Darland and Dave Steele chopped into it every lap making it a three-car race for the lead on lap 15. Darland’s winning move came on the 18th circuit when he ducked under Gregory for the lead. It took Steele until the 27th circuit before he finally made the pass for second in lapped traffic. By that time, Darland was long gone and collected the $4,000 win in a race that went non-stop in 7:33.59 less than five seconds off the track record set by Steve Butler on June 16, 1990. Darland mentioned in victory lane how it was great to come back to the speedway and how the non-stop event took the wind out of him as he was literally holding on.
Floridian Steele was second over an impressive run by Gregory in third. Point leader Jones dropped to fourth over USAC National Midget point leader and Californian Josh Wise, who drives for NASCAR’s Tony Stewart. Tracy Hines, who set fast time with a lap of 14.045 just missing the track record .019 set by Steele on July 5, 2002, surprisingly failed to advance any positions finishing sixth.
It was dissappointing that only 18 cars turned out, but it was a good show nonetheless. It's amazing how many non-winged cars there are in Indiana yet many of these USAC National events don't draw that many cars. They had 22 last Wednesday night at the dirt track at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
The 40 lapper for the e-mods went to Mike Stacy, who led all 40 laps. Stacy’s win was far from easy as he had Jason Dietsch and Rodney Scott all over him in the closing five laps. The event was slowed only two times by caution; however, one of the stoppages was a nine-car melee in turns one and two that delayed action for 35 minutes. The only drawback to the show was only two wreckers and thus why such a long delay. That really is unexcusable for such a major event.
The open sportsman completed the show with their 40-lap main and it was Scott Henshaw in victory lane in a race that had just nine cars finish.
Winchester is one of those places you need to see for yourself at some point in your lifetime. Winchester made for my 11th new track of the year after only having one through August 11, and my 99th career track. It also marked Indiana track #5 for me all of which have come in less than the last year.
One note from the trip was how gas prices varied throughout Ohio. I saw it for as low as $2.33 regular unleaded near Celina, OH and as high as $2.89 where I stayed Saturday night and prices just about everywhere in between.
89. 1/2 Mountain Speedway, Saint Johns, PA
90. 8/12 Big Diamond Raceway, Minersville, PA
91. 8/13 Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton,PA
92. 8/13 New Egypt Speedway, New Egypt, NJ
93. 8/24 Westmoreland Fairgrounds (Rolling Rock Arena), Norvelt, PA
94. 9/9 Lake Erie Speedway (figure 8), North East, PA
95. 9/11 Thunder Moutain Speedway, Knox Dale, PA
96. 10/8 Columbus Motor Speedway, Obetz, OH
97. 10/9 Lawrenceburg Speedway, Lawrenceburg, IN
98. 10/15 35 Raceway Park (new 1/5-mile), Frankfort, OH
99. 10/16 Winchester Speedway, Winchester, IN
posted by Mike Leone at 11:00 PM
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